The Daily News. MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1921. PROSPERITY AND ITS AFTERMATH.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 March 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1921. PROSPERITY AND ITS AFTERMATH.

Whilst a country is prosperous very few of its people give a thought as to what is the source of that prosperity, or seriously contemplate the reaction leading to “bad times” that almost inevitably will follow. Prosperity need not be followed by the reverse, and would not be if all understood clearly what leads to prosperity, and made up their -minds to maintain it. But in the main human nature is optimistic and improvident. The comparative use and comfort made possible by good times lead to carelessness, relaxation of effort and over indulgence, all of which we may, for facility, term destruction, for all waste, whether that of material, time or opportunity, is equivalent to destruction. The greater the prosperity the greater the destruction, and, consequently, the greater the reaction in the form of “hard times.” In speaking of prosperity we-are really speaking of conditions under which a sufficiency of wealth is available, and therefore in considering the reasons of prosperity we are studying the causes of wealth. That being the case, the first thing is to understand just what wealth is as applied to the community. Wealth consists not only of food, clothing, housing, buildings, machinery, roads, railways, etc., but also of all things'' that make for the wellbeing, equipment and advancement of the community, such as everything that tends to preserve life and maintain health, to advance education, and to the advancement on the ethical and aesthetic side. The next thing is: How is such wealth attainable? However fertile the soil of a country may be, or however rich it may be in natural resources, the degree of wealth which may be made available is, in the main, dependent on the amount and quality of human exertion, in its various forms, which is brought into play. The term “human exertion” is used to cover all the factors in the production of wealth—intelligence, capital, and labor. This is a broader use than is strictly correct, but is used for convenience. The amount and quality of human exertion, in proportion to the population, brought into play may vary very

greatly, from poor labor, unaided by intelligence or capital, to the maximum energy of labor, consistent with the maintenance of health and general well-being, aided by the highest intelligence and adequate capital. These latter as a rule are the conditions under which the greatest prosperity is attainable'. Of course there are exceptions, such as a demand for its products at a higher standard of values by some other community or country. To insure these conditions the first step is reasonable promise of adequate reward for each of the factors. Intelligence is ever increasingly available, often for inadequate recognition. Capital is always, and increasingly, available where there is reasonable prospect of profitable return. The third factor—labor—on the other hand, cannot be relied upon on any terms. It demands that it shall be secured, at the expense of the other factors—intelligence and capital—at all times against all risks, and rewarded, independent of amount of exertion, quality or result, at ever-increaS-ing rates for steadily decreasing services. Prosperity would seem to have accentuated this unreliability and unreasonableness of labor. Now as prosperity can only be brought about and maintained by properly proportioned co-opera-tion used to the fullest extent of the three factors in the production of wealth—no one or two are effective without the third—the attitude adopted 'by labor is ever increasingly destructive. This, added to carelessness, relaxation of effort, and over indulgence by the community generally is rapidly bringing about the aftermath of prosperity— J bad times, during which all will suffer. ‘‘ To live we must work ’’ is ever true. Energetic work with goodwill will give us prosperity. With poor, begrudging work we will go hungry. With shirking and poorer work we will starve.